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Published: November 15th 2005
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Long Tail Boat
The start of the floating market...no shopping yet! Hi everyone!!! We have just arrived from our first trekking experience and WE LOVED IT!!!! Chiang Mai has been great so far and our time in Bangkok was good, but not our favourite city. Definately good shopping and a mass of tourists but other than that, not much to see (other than pollution) or do. Here's what we managed to see/do:
We arrived at the airport at 12:10 last Saturday and by 1:30 still hadn't made it through immigration....crazy lines and little staff. But finally, we made it outside and caught a bus from the airport right to backpacker central, Khao San Road! So many tourists and cheap clothes......I told leslie that she was to carry all the money! We checked into "my house, guest house" and then, we had our first thai dinner (we have agreed that we LOVE thai food)..green curry, cashew chicken and veggies. And the best part is they serve their pop still in the old glass bottles!
Sunday, we took part in the famous weekend market (15,000 vendors, 200,000 shoppers) and I am now the official owner of the infamous fisherman pants, except I couldn't figure out how to tie them!!! Leslie and I
Khao San Road
Crazy Backpackers! You can buy anything on this street...only it's 3 times cheaper around the corner...where we stayed! did pretty good at the market (by pretty good I mean we left with a little bit of money!!) Sure is a lot of stuff (including puppies (hopefully not being sold for food)...could've got a cocker spaniel for 2500 baht, 80 bucks!!...don't worry Kristie, none of them were "cinnamon") we were very tame and showed great self-control. It was crazy busy and so hot so after spending 5 hours there, we headed back to the hostel exhausted with our plastic bags in tow to try on our purchases!
Monday, I figured out how to tie the pants. We then had a rather boring day and went to the Canandian embassy (yep, there's fun for you!!) to see how to get a Vietnam visa and apparently you have to go to the veitnam embassy! Who knew! So we did and after taking a cab with a driver that had no idea where he was going (and I even had a map!!) we got there and it was closed! great!! what a waste of time. So we did the alternative, buy one from a shop near our hostel and pray it's not fake!
Tuesday, booked a half day tour to
Ladies of the Floating Market
Imagine canoeing around Safeway to get your food! the floating market about 2.5 hours SW of here. Pretty neat. These cute, Thai ladies in their straw hats paddle these canoe-like boats up/down a canal selling their goods (fruit/veggies to postcards), or transporting camera-happy tourists like ourselves to buy their goods! It's a sight to see....grocery shopping on water!
Wednesday, we decided it was time to visit our first temple, or Wat as they are called here. So, we hired our first Tuk-tuk and for 40 Baht, our driver took us to 3 temples (and a tailor shop.....trick by the drivers so they can get their commission or free gas coupon!!!) and at 6:30, we left for Chiang Mai with our Vietnam visas in hand, and they look legit!!!
After 12 hours in a not-so-roomy bus (yep, I don't think it was the same bus as the picture showed!!), we arrived and went straight to our new guest house, Nice Place. They gave us some tea/coffee and then pulled out the trekking books. Leslie and I booked one to leave on Saturday. The rest of the day was LAZY since neither one of us got any sleep on the mini-bus!!! We napped and decided to take a
The Grand Palace
So much detail! The outside of the buildings were covered in gold leaf and small tiles. Sure was Grand!! quick walk through the night bazaar......we soon learned that quick and night bazaar can not be used in the same sentence!! oops!!
Friday, we walked through the old part of town. It's a section that is a square within a surrounding moat and is where most of the temples are. The oldest one here was built in 1296 AD.....crazy! Wat and old wat! Friday night, we met up with Dave (a friend Debbie and Rob met while travelling) and had a nice light dinner and a couple of beers ( go Chang beer!!). We will likely meet up with them again in the next couple of days since there is a big festival here with lots to see so it'll be nice to have a local around to give us the scoop!
Saturday arrived and we left on the trek. So much fun and we were with a really great group of people too, which definately helps when you're with them for 3 days and 2 nights! There were 5 guys from Ireland, 1 aussie guy, a couple from Isreal and another couple from Canada. We all had a blast! In 3 days, we visited 3 hill tribes
Funky Monkeys
Not sure what they are...Looks like something out of the Wizare of OZ! (Lisu, Lahu and Karen), rode elephants, drank to much beer, rode a bamboo raft down the river, drank too much beer again and hiked about 8-9 hours up and down hills.....I think more up than down. We were laughing with all the hills at the fact that it's probably why they are called Hill-tribes (should've booked a flat-land tribe trek!!) Ahh, a little exercise never hurt anyone! We spent the nights in Lahu and Karen in a bamboo hut for all 12 of us. Lisu was a fairly 'rich' village of about 200 people, in fact just outside most of the huts were satellites! Yep, when there's nothing else to do you can always catch a good game on TV!! In Lahu, we were closer to the actual tribe (~120 people) so they guys took part in a soccer game with the local boys....so adorable! That night we spent drinking beer and singing songs. The children from the village put on a little performance (so cute) and then tried to teach us the dance (we'll have to show you when we get home!)
The second day we did more hiking, more sweating, more wishing that we didn't drink
VIP Bus
Nothing like sitting knees-to-chest for 12 hours! all that beer the night before but the reward was a waterfall shower!!! So fun! We stopped for lunch, had a "shower" and then continued on to the elephants! Yep, we have officially ridden our first elephant. It was really great, until our seat just about fell off! We finished the night off with some beer (and rum) with numerous drinking games and lots of laughs! Man, can those Irish guys ("lads") drink!! But Leslie made Canada proud and chugged beer like a pro! Our guides were playing along too in all the games and it's so cute because instead of saying "oh my god/gosh" like at home, they say "oh my buddha"!!!! I love it!!! They also mark up your face with soot when you mess up a game. We looked hot that night--drunk and dirty!!! Then yesterday, we finished the hiking with a bamboo raft float (more like sink) down the river. Of course, with a bunch of guys around, everyone was in the water in the first 2 minutes and one raft didn't even make it down the river in one piece, but came in with 4 of the guys riding a single piece of bamboo each!
City Moat
A night view of part of the moat visible around the old part of Chiang Mai. We were all wiped after and tried to sleep in our make-shift bus home (picture a pick-up truck with a canopy and in the bed, 2 benches along the sides.....yep, that's the official Chiang Maii bus!!)....oh my buddha!
So, now Leslie and I are going to spend the next 2 days here in Chiang Mai with the festival and then head off to Laos for a week or so. Not sure what the computer situation will be like there, but hopefully, we 'll get an update in from there.
Thank you all so much for your emails. We miss you very much and love you. After 3 days of sitting/eating on bamboo floors and climbing mountains, we are off to get our first Thai massage.....gonna feel so good!!
xoxo
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Ditte
non-member comment
amazing....
You two are so lucky!!! Great journal entries, I am really enjoying living vicariously through the two of you!!! Just so you know it has started to snow in Kamloops already and the ski hill is opening up this week. Just thought that an image of snowy Kamloops would contrast nicely with your warm Thai travelling experiences! Take care!